5 Answers
5

One of the colloquial definitions of grind is (from the Oxford English Dictionary):

Steady hard work; labour of a monotonous kind, esp. close and hard study; an instance of this, a dull and laborious task.

The first written use of this is:

1851 B. H. Hall Coll. College Words, Grind, an exaction; an oppressive action. Students speak of a very long lesson which they are required to learn, or of anything which is very unpleasant or difficult to perform as a grind.

So the grind of one's day would be the daily, monotonous work that one has to do. It is more common to refer to this as the daily grind.

I have always assume that it is a metaphor. When you grind metal (or whatever), you wear bits off gradually. Each pass of the grinder takes off a tiny amount of metal, but over a long time a lot is worn away.

The metaphor for work can go both ways:

Negative: Hard work uses up your energy and your enthusiasm, but not all in one go. It's ground away gradually over hours, months or years

Positive: You may not achieve much in a day, but by grinding away at your tasks, you gradually achieve something

Note that the metaphor also applies to "grinding" in role-playing games; gradually building up your character's stats by taking part in minor battles etc.

It sounds too obvious not to have been mentioned. Perhaps no one could find anything to support the theory.
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Edwin AshworthJun 16 at 19:23

Bear with, I shall come back to this. As newby I need to catch breath.
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LynaireJun 16 at 19:28

Ruth Goldman, Historian, working on Guedelon Castle in Treigny, France. She demonstrated the use of the 'home' grain grinder as used by people working far from commercial mills.
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LynaireJun 16 at 19:43